Rail-bender.



Patented lune 25,19".4 w. A. SHEAHAN.

RAIL BENDER.

(Application led Nov. 9, 1900,)

(No Model.)

e Inw mwwh/ TN: romy: wma: so, Pncrrouw UNTTED STATES PATENT EErcE.

XVILLIAM A. SI-IEAIIAN, OF EFFINGHAM, ILLINOIS.

RAiL-BENDER.

.UEEQN forming part of Letters Patent life. 677,284, dated June 25,1901.

Application filed November 9, 1900. Serial No. 35,924. (No model.)

To all wir/0m it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. SHEAHAN, a citizen of the United Statesof America, residing at Effingham, in the county of Edingham and Stateof Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Benders, of which the following, takenin conneet-ion with theaccompanying drawings, is a specification.

he object ot' my invention is to provide a rail-bender which while ot`simple and economical construction will still be capable of greaterfacility and rapidity of operation than the prior devices of like kindwith which I am familiar.

In the accomplishment of the above-mentioned object I provide a devicefor taking up automatically the slack which is caused by the movement ofthe actuating means in the operation of bending the rail.

As commonly constructed the usual form of rail-bender comprises,essentially, two parts, one of which has two bearing-points on therailand the other a single bearing-point on the rail so located withreference to thev other two that a longitudinal movement of the twoparts relative to each other will curve or bend the rail between the twooutermost points of contact. In the prior constructions the bending isgenerally done through the instrumentality of some actuating means,generally a hand-lever and an eccentric, the eccentric 'being arrangedto give the requisite movement to the two parts longitudinally of eachother. As these devices are generally operated by hand and the powerthus developed is relatively small, the great force necessary to securethe bending of the rail necessitates a very heavy leverage. The resultof this is that for a large range of movement of the actuating device oneach throw of the lever but a very small amount of curvature will beimparted to the rail. It is thus necessary in order to get the desireddegree of bend in the rail to operate the actuating means or lever anumber of times, each time taking up the slack or lost motion in thelongitudinal relation of the two parts of the bender, so that the nextmovement of the lever will be effective. In the devices of the prior artthis has been commonly done by the use of some hand-operated take-updevice--sucl1,for example, as a turnbuckle in the thrust-bar. Such handadjustment is open to some objections, prominent among which is to bementioned the loss of time involved in the operA ating of it.

In the practice of my invention I overcome the objection last mentionedand accomplish the other objects enumerated, as well as such as mayhereinafter appear, by means of the construction which I haveillustrated in preferred form in the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure l is a perspective view of a railbenderemhodyingmyimprovements.Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectionwith the operating parts shown iu side elevation. Fig. 4 is amodification of myiuvention in whichadifferent form of actuating meansis employed to operate the two longitudinally-movable parts.

In constructing my improved form of bender I take, first, the usual formof vframe 1, provided with the two tension-hooks 2 and 3, the sameconstituting one of the two movable members to which I have abovereferred. The other movable member I arrange, preferably, as is commonin the art, in the shape of a thrust-bar .4, adapted to bear against therail on the side opposite the tension-hooks and intermediate thereof. Asan actuating means to move the two parts relative to each other I preferto employ the system of togglelevers 5 and cooperating hand-actuatedlever 6 shown in Figs. l, 2, aud 3 as calculated to stand anextremely-heavy pressure with a minimum of frictional resistance,although Athe eccentric device of the prior art (shown in Fig. 4) couldbe used in this place, if desired. The thrust-bar 4; I construct of twoparts adjustable longitudinally relative to each other and preferablytelescopic. As a means offadjusting said two parts I provide the wedge8, so disposed as to be actuated by gravity or other force-such as aspring, for

examplewin such a manner as to take up automatically the slack or lostmotion caused between the two parts of the thrust-bar by their returnmovement or the relaxation of the actuating means In order to preventany backward spring of IOO the rail when the actuating-lever isretracted and consequent backward movement of the portion of thethrust-bar which bears against the rail, I have provided an additionalimprovement comprising a supplemental takeup mechanism having a wedge 15inserted through a slot in the part 4i of the thrust-bar and adaptedupon reciprocation of the actuating-lever to descend by gravity betweenthe cross-bar 16 and the end 17 of the forward portion of the thrust-bar4. This feature of my invention is valuable and greatly increases theefficiency of the whole; but sinceabender like mine in other respects,but omitting this improvement, would have some of the advantages Idesire here to state that I do not desire or intend to limit my broaderclaims to include this device.

It will be seen that one of the marked advantages of my improvementslies in the fact that after the rail is bent the thrust-bar can beretracted to its full extent by merely lifting up the wedges or keys 8and 15.

In order to determine the extent to which the rail shall be bent, Iprovide my automatically-operated mechanism with an adjustable stop 9,which can be set in any desired position by means of a set-screw 10.

In Fig. 2 I have shown the preferred form of toggle-joint, the pin 1lbeing enlarged at its middle 12 to avoid any possibility of its bendingand the toggle levers 5 being formed with projecting shoulders l-Stotake some of the shearing strain o the pin.

In operating my invention a downward movement of the actuating-levermoves the thrust-bar to the right, permitting the supplemental wedge 15to drop slightly. When the actuating-lever is moved upward or back, thesupplemental wedge holds the forward portion ot the thrust-bar 4 fromspringing back, while the main automatic take-up mechanism, containingthe wedge 8, falls a little to take up the slack caused by the advanceof the bar 4t and provide for its further advance on the next downwardmovement of the actuating-lever.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with two adjustable parts in a power-applying device,of take-up mechanism comprisingamovable wedgeinterposed between said twoadjustable parts and adapted to be advanced automatically uponrelaxation of the force applied, substantially as described.

2. The combination with two adjustable parts in a power-applying device,of take-up mechanism comprising a gravityactuated wedge interposedbetween said two adjustable parts and adapted to be advancedautomatically upon relaxation of the force applied, substantially asdescribed.

3. The combination with two adjustable parts in a power-applying device,of take-up mechanism comprising a movable wedge interposed between saidtwo adjustable parts and adapted to be advanced automatically uponrelaxation of the force applied, and an adjustable stop, substantiallyas described.

et. The combination with two adjustable parts in a power-applyingdevice, of take-up mechanism comprising a movable wedge interposedbetween said two adjustable parts, and adapted to be advancedautomatically upon relaxation of the force applied and supplementaltake-up mechanism whereby the operation of said tirstmentioned take-upmechanism is facilitated, substantially as described.

5. The combination with two adjustable parts in a power-applying device,of take-up mechanism comprising a movable wedge interposed between saidtwo adjustable parts, and a supplemental wedge, whereby the 0peration ofsaid first-mentioned wedge is facilitated, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set I my hand in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses. j

`WILLIAM A. SHEAHAN.

Witnesses:

PAUL SYNNnsTvEDT, PAUL CARPENTER.

